Lost Then Found
by Enigmaforum
Summary: For Sky Tate, being Commander of Earth's Space Patrol Delta is a position that he truly enjoys with the exception of all the paperwork that comes with it. However he is about to learn that not all paperwork leads to a headache.


**Disclaimer: I do not and more than likely never will own Power Rangers. I just borrow the characters from time to time. I promise no money has been made.**

**Author's Note: This is for the ever amazing pink-green-white-4ever; who continually lets me bounce ideas off of her and is one of the best sisters I could ask for. This piece if for you because you are amazing and awesome and I love you!! **

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It was late at night and he was hunched over his desk attempting to get his work done. On said desk stood two stacks of papers; one was of status reports that he needed to review and sign off on and the other was an equally large stack of requests that needed his approval before they could be made. Both piles of papers had seemed to suddenly appear throughout the day but he hadn't had a moment to sit down and get to them until now.

Instead Schuyler Tate, Commander of the Earth branch of Space Patrol Delta had spent his day doing anything but sit at his desk. His morning had been spent teaching classes at the Academy, his afternoon consulting with Kat on upgrades she was making to the SWAT mode of B Squad's morphers, and finally a good chunk of his evening had been spent on a conference call to Doggy Kruger at SPD's command central. The call hadn't been about anything serious but it had involved going through some of the more recent cases Earth had been processing. Put all of that together and you honestly got what a normal day was for Sky. It wasn't exactly glamorous or anything but it was his job and he loved it. He still got a hand in protecting Earth and now he was even helping the universe on a broader scale.

The only thing he didn't particularly love was all of the paperwork he was now being forced to subject himself too. That was one thing no one told you about when you became a commander; the paperwork that accompanied it was like a mountain that was near impossible to climb. But honestly this was all his own doing because Sky had been putting off said paperwork for the past couple of days and he simply couldn't ignore it anymore. This was why he was in his office when most of the command center was in automatic for the night. Of course there were people here to monitor the computers and he had teams out there patrolling the city but ever since Grumm had been destroyed the city seemed just a tad bit quieter. Yes there were still aliens that thought they were high and mighty and even some humans too but it was still good.

Sky knew it was hard to explain but everyone he knew seemed to get it. Whatever they faced it wasn't nearly as bad as when Grumm had been around and they all knew it. Sky also knew that if it came down to it, the team he had been a part of could handle anything that was thrown at them. They had been or were still Power Rangers after all and that meant an attitude that focused on winning with no other outcome. It was an attitude that Sky embraced wholeheartedly and had found himself believing in more and more in the years that had followed Grumm's defeat.

Sky smiled as he steadily worked his way through the mountain of paperwork, he'd definitely made a change within himself over the past few years. At the start of his career with Space Patrol Delta, he'd been a cocky, independent man who'd been hell bent on being the Red Ranger. He'd thought that at the time, Red was the only color that mattered because of his father and his own grievous thinking.

However when he'd actually become a Power Ranger those thoughts had shifted very slowly. It had taken him a long time to make peace with the fact that just being a Power Ranger was a privilege and that being a part of that amazing legacy meant that heroes came in all colors. Being a Power Ranger had changed Sky in all the right ways. He'd learned that it was alright to be wrong at times, that hope was always available, and above all he'd learned how to be part of a team. He'd gotten to know people that he knew he'd be friends with for the rest of life, he'd learned how to depend on those people and he always would know that that was alright.

He'd needed those lessons in his life and Sky would always hold them close to his heart. Without them he doubted he would be alive, much less the commander of SPD. And he was grateful for all that he had in this life; a job that he absolutely loved and people to share his life with. Bridge and Jack were his brothers in all but blood and Z was practically the little sister he'd never had. Boom was steadily becoming one of his good friends and Kat was a counselor when he needed one. The only person he couldn't quite put in any distinct category of his life was one SPD B-Squad Pink Ranger, otherwise known as Sydney Drew.

Syd. He smiled when he thought of her because she was just something. Their time as Rangers had not only changed him, they'd most definitely had an effect on her as well. When he'd first met her he'd written her off as nothing more than a Princess who had too much time on her hands. He hadn't thought she was actually capable of anything and now he knew just how wrong he was. He'd gotten to watch her transform herself from a girl to a woman who gave her color's legacy a damn good name. Syd had transformed herself into a compassionate and thoughtful individual that he was happy to know.

He just didn't know how to classify her in his life at this present time. She was definitely someone he considered to be one of his best friends. They'd steadily built up a close relationship in the years following their time as Rangers together and it just got better with each day. She was his confidant. She was his teammate. But she was also something he couldn't figure out because whenever he was around each other he felt as though someone had lit a fuse between them. In addition to being friends, they flirted all the time, clicked in ways he hadn't thought possible and yet they weren't dating. Sky had no idea what to think about it, he wanted to ask her but she gave no inclination about where her feelings lay.

For all he knew their flirting could just be a fun little thing to her and their clicking could just be something she saw as a best friend's sort of thing. He didn't know if he wanted to take the risk of asking her out and then being rejected. Yes, Sky Tate, former Blue and Red SPD Ranger, was scared to death of rejection when it came to Sydney Drew.

"Hey there boss man."

His eyes snapped up at the sound of a very familiar voice calling to him. He felt himself grin at the sight of Syd standing in his doorway as though she'd known exactly what he'd been thinking about, leaning against it and staring at him with light in her eyes. He thought that she looked beautiful right now; even under the damn cheap florescent lighting SPD seemed to install in nonessential parts of the building. Then again, in his opinion Sydney could never look bad in any given situation.

"Hey yourself. How was patrol?" He asked, gesturing to the open chair in front of his desk, one that she eagerly moved forward to take. Sydney had been out for the better part of the night driving around the city, making sure everything was alright.

"It was good. All's well for the moment and Piggy says hi," she replied as she got herself comfortable.

"Piggy?" He asked, feeling an eyebrow raise when she simply laughed and nodded.

"I ran into him when I was driving back in and get this...he was on a date."

"A date?" Sky definitely felt his eyebrows shooting up to meet his hairline at those words. "Who or what in god's name would date Piggy of all creatures?"

Sydney shrugged but kept smiling all the same.

"I have no idea but he was definitely on a date and the woman he was with looked happy. Apparently when you do charity work it's an and I quote 'real chick magnet,'" Sydney said, her voice changing to a deeper falsetto to represent what Sky supposed was a man's voice. Except Sydney wasn't a man and the entire attempt did nothing but make him laugh out loud. Something he hadn't really had the chance to do all day.

"We really need to get him off of his old television show kick," he said with a chuckle as Syd simply grinned and nodded.

"Maybe not the worst idea you've ever had. But hey at least he's happy."

Sky found that he couldn't argue with that. So he chose to say nothing and pushed himself up from his paperwork and let himself stretch out. He heard himself let out a groan of protest at the action but knew that he simply had to get the kinks out. Sky found himself so involved in that particular task that he never heard Syd getting up from her position in his chair and move around to stand behind him. He jumped when he felt her warm hands on his shoulders and felt his heart skip a beat or ten when her voice was right by his ear.

"Relax Sky," she murmured and then he found himself completely and utterly unable to reply to her statement as she began to work out all of the kinks in his upper back. In fact he may have let out an unintelligible sort of moan as she worked but he would deny that if she ever brought it up. But one thing he would never deny; Sydney Drew had magic hands and she was working miracles on his overly tense muscles right now.

"Tate what the hell have you been doing to cause this much tension in your body?"

"Being the Commander of the base isn't as easy as it looks Syd," he replied softly. "Sometimes it's a lot and today it was a lot. Meetings, teaching, and then all of this paperwork…."

"Sky that's no excuse for this," she said and her voice was right there again and her hands had stopped moving for a moment. "Don't take on so much alright? It's not good for you. And despite what you may think you aren't Superman."

"No but I was once a spandex wearing super hero," he countered, laughing when she smacked him and quietly went back to rubbing his shoulders. For a few minutes there was nothing but a comfortable silence in the air between them and Sky let himself enjoy the moment. Peaceful moments were all too rare in this line of work and he wasn't one to let it go with one of his favorite people in the entire world.

"So," Syd began, breaking said peace with her voice.

"So," he replied, glancing up to find her face thoughtful and her eyes seemed to be scheming. Oh god, that wasn't good. It was never a good thing when female rangers schemed; it always led to either him or Bridge being dragged to the mall and being pack mules.

"You know…my birthday is in a couple of weeks," she started vaguely, staring straight at him, her hands stopping their motions once more.

"I know…."he trailed off and she grinned.

"I just thought that I could tell you what I wanted."

He breathed a sigh of relief at that. He wasn't going to have to go to the mall and be a pack mule and he could get her birthday shopping done without second guessing himself. Oh tonight was shaping up to be a good one indeed.

"And what would you like Ms. Drew?"

Syd's grin turned into something else entirely as she leaned down and put her mouth right by his ear once more.

"Ms. Drew would like one Schuyler Tate to take her out on a date because she is tired of this cat and mouse game they've been playing for entirely too long."

Sky felt his breath leave him then and he turned his head to stare at her. She was still grinning and Sky felt something in him surge. Syd liked him and she wanted to go out on a date _with him._ She wanted what he did, so he did the only thing he could think of, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. It was a quick kiss, but Sky made sure it conveyed everything he was feeling and when he pulled back, Syd's eyes were simply shining.

"Mr. Tate feels the exact same way," he said quietly. "I would love to take you out on a date Syd."

"Good because I wasn't going to leave this room without one."

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**Feedback is always appreciated. Thanks for reading! **


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